Try Firefox. Do it. Now.

I just visited a web site (www.edu-hq.com) using IE 6 and was greeted by an enormous banner at the top of the page encouraging me to use Firefox. This is not the first such banner I’ve seen. It looked like this…

…and it hurt my feelings.

I understand a lot of people have strong opinions over their choice of browser, and many have completely lost their minds over the issue, but isn’t this a little over the top? The banner says to try Firefox because I’ll “like it better”. Why? Because, according to the last bullet point, I’ll be helping to save the world from Microsoft? Save the forests, heal the oceans, and all that?

Is is just me, or is the Firefox crowd starting to sound eerily like a horde of college protesters camped out on the dean’s front lawn? Instead of carrying banners down the sidewalk, they’re putting them at the top of their web pages.

Interestingly, the first two bullet points arguing for Firefox are about blocking popups, and how Firefox does it so much better than IE. OK, that may be true, but do I need to stop and download Firefox now, just to see your web site with the right margins and padding or whatever? And more importantly how can I block these banners urging me to switch browsers?

Seriously, the world is full of IE users. So adjust your beret, boot up your Mac, and fix your web site so it works in all browsers, not just the one you have a thing for.

[PS. I'm not really mad. But it's fun to write like I am, heh.]

Hotmail is for Newbs

This confirms my suspicions that Hotmail has gone down the dreaded route of uncoolness. GMail is in – Hotmail is out.

Actual quote (from above link):

You can’t pretend being an internet expert and use a Hotmail account at the same time.

Wow.

Sleazy Recruiters

Look at this job ad as seen on a popular developer web site:

Well-Respected Consulting Firm, huh? Then why isn’t the well respected firm’s name in the ad? Hrmmmm?

And of course they need “brilliant” developers. No other kind will do, but knowing SQL is a plus, you see.

This is obviously a recruiter-posted ad, to which I say, “ARRRGGGHH!” If you’re looking for a job, try a board like the recruiter unfriendly jobs.joelonsoftware.com, where job ads can’t be posted at all without listing the hiring company’s name.

[And by the way, I'm perfectly satisfied in my current employment - I just spotted this ad on a web site and couldn't resist commenting.]

Productivity Booster

A few days ago I downloaded the latest update to Google Desktop Search, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had updated the sidebar to look more Windows Vista’y. And there seems to be a good deal more quality widgets available. Coolness.

But aside from the coolness factor, this is a nifty productivity booster. As you can see from the screenshot, I’m using a ToDo widget, a Note widget, a Calendar widget (which displays my current Outlook calendar), and a few other extraneous widgets that display the nifty Vista-style clock and weather.

I’m loving the ToDo widget because I’m quite forgetful of late, and this is much more handy, visible, and neat than a collection of sticky notes, or even using Outlook’s Task list (because now there’s nothing to switch to – it’s right there in front of me). And the Notes widget is great for adding details about, for example, a current work item, which I can copy to an email and shoot off as an uber-detail status report when I’m done.

The calendar widget also provides a succint way of reminding me, at a glance, without having to flip to another app, which days I have meetings booked. And the image viewer widget pulls down family photos from a PicasaWeb RSS feed to remind me what my family looks like (the pic in the screenshot is of one of my month old twin daughters). I’m lovin’ it!

Of course, this wouldn’t work half so well if I didn’t have a monster wide-screen primary monitor, in addition to a secondary, smaller monitor, so I have plenty of screen real estate to play with.

In other (related) news, Yahoo Widgets 4 launched today. And they are very cool, with that nifty MAC-glossy look applied to all the widgets. I was hooked on version 3 for a while, until my PC started locking up for no good reason, and my CPU started getting pegged at odd times. An uninstall fixed the issue, which proved (to me) that Yahoo widgets were the culprit. Besides, who needs widgets floating all over your desktop, constantly needing to be moved because they’re in the way?

Google Desktop’s sidebar, on the other hand, doesn’t play nasty, and fits quite compactly in the sidebar. I like it. It’s a great tool in a great product – Google Desktop Search. Give it a try!

Web 2.0 is Script.aculo.us

If you haven’t gotten on the http://script.aculo.us/ bandwagon yet, grab my hand and swing aboard! This javascript library makes it ridiculously easy (if you can write code at all) to add eye-catching (and tasteful) animations to your application.

Also check out http://www.miniajax.com/, which also has some fantastic AJAX/Web 2.0 samples.

The whole Web 2.0 phenomenon is all about the idea that the UI matters as much as, or more than, the functionality. Apple already knew that. Microsoft is getting the idea with Windows Vista and WPF and WPF/E, and the new Office Ribbon. Who cares if your application has feature XYZ if its hard to get to? And once they can get to it, why not make the feature fun to use?

For example, when you delete a post from WordPress (note: I’ve only deleted draft/unpublished posts), the post fades away in the browser in a very nifty Web 2.0′y way, while it’s actually deleted via an AJAX call. Which makes it fun!

On the flip side, MS Hotmail is an example of how AJAX can’t do anything for a worthless piece of trash software (oops, did I say that?). Hotmail.com uses AJAX everywhere, but it still can’t seem to filter junk mail into the right folder. My Hotmail inbox is filled with hundreds and hundreds of junk mails, because now I’m so fed up with the thing that I only revisit my Hotmail account every month or so just to make sure I didn’t miss a message from someone important but forgotten.

So do make your site scriptaculous, but don’t neglect to make it work.

ProGrammar

If you’re interested in writing a custom parser to parse complex text (such as a programming language or text files with complex formatting), I encourage you to check out http://www.programmar.com/, a toolkit/SDK for developing parsers. Their toolkit includes an IDE that lets you visually walk a parse tree while you’re creating your parser definition file (which has only a moderate learning curve, in my opinion).

The only problem is their site appears to be severely out of date. The launch date for ProGrammar v.2 is still listed as June, 2006. What gives?

At any rate, version 1.0 is mucho magnifico. Not everyone is looking for a custom parser creation toolkit, but if you are, you have to check these guys (or gals, as the case may be) out. 

Bricks Without Straw

Brian looked up from his 15-inch monitor and rubbed his eyes. He stared blankly at his cubicle wall for a few seconds to let his pupils dilate, and then gathered a notebook, a pen, and his half-empty styrofoam cup of water, and lumbered off to his weekly status meeting.

He heard voices murmuring before he turned the corner – the room was packed with people working on his project, and several that weren’t but were somehow involved in some capacity. The meeting got underway and Steve, the Project Manager, asked Brian to give a brief status overview of the modules he was working on.

“As you know,” Brian began slowly and deliberately, “I’m working on translating the XML feed from the MIGLAC system into a format the YUGYAK system can understand, and I’m using XSL to do the translation. Some of the XML files from the MIGLAC system are almost 50 Megs, in addition to being fairly complex. I feel like we’re on target to meet the next milestone, but it would be a huge timesaver if I had a more appropriate tool than Wordpad to work with these XML files.” 

The room grew silent. Everyone was inwardly cheering Brian on, but no one was about to stick their own neck out in case things went sour.

Steve leaned back in his chair. “What’s wrong with Wordpad? Is that the same thing as notepad?”

“Well, it’s a lot like notepad, except it can handle larger files. However, there are many things it can’t do, such as syntax coloring, formatting, and things like DTD or Schema intelli…” 

“Wait, wait,” Steve interrupted. “So what you’re saying is that Wordpad can do the job just fine, there’s just a few bells and whistles, what I like to call ‘fluff’, that it can’t do?” In his most managerial voice, Steve added, “Is that correct?”

Brian cringed, along with everyone else in the room. “Well no, not exactly. Yes, it can open large files, but Wordpad was designed for working with simple text documents, like maybe a letter to Grandma, not specifically with XML!”

At the words, “like maybe a letter to Grandma” Steve looked visibly displeased, and a little insulted. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

“Well, I think Altova’s XML Spy is a great tool for working with XML, however I’m open to suggestions from anyone whose worked with other XML tools.” And with that, he slung a quick, casual glance around the room. All eyes fell to the table. Someone at the far end of the room pursed their lips and slowly nodded thoughtfully, as if trying to appear to agree with Brian without actually doing so.

Steve looked at his watch. “Well, in the interest of time, I’d like to continue this conversation later. I have another important meeting after this one, and I’d like to finish going around the room.” He swung his Tablet PC around, poised himself to write, looked up at Brian and asked, “So you’re on schedule?”

Brian took a deep breath, imagining many long nights ahead, stared blankly at the table, and said, “Yes.”